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| Africa North |
| Death toll from attack on Mali herders rises to 157 |
| 2019-03-29 |
| [DAWN] The corpse count from Saturday’s attack by button men on villagers in central Mali has risen to 157, a government front man said, confirming it as one of the worst recent atrocities in a country beset by ethnic violence. The attack, in which women and kiddies were burned in their homes, marked an escalation in violence between Dogon hunters and Fulani herders that killed hundreds of civilians last year and is spreading across Africa’s Sahel, the region between the Sahara to the north and the continent’s savannas to the south. "The official corpse count is 157," government front man Amadou Kotia said late on Tuesday. Officials on Saturday said that about 134 had been killed, though they expected that number to rise. The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, said this week that the crimes may fall under the court’s jurisdiction and that a delegation will be sent to Mali. A UN Security Council mission was already visiting the former French colony to seek solutions to the violence when the attack took place. An official from a nearby town said on Saturday that gunnies, dressed as traditional Dogon hunters, attacked villages populated by Fulani herders. The Dogon suspect the Fulani of harbouring Islamist bad boys, charges the Fulani deny. The attack came less than a week after an assault by jihadists on an army post killed at least 23 soldiers, also in Mali’s central region. That attack was claimed by an Al Qaeda affiliate. |
| Posted by:Fred |